Oilman Dick Hooper a one-armed baseball star

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9:11 am CDT, Tuesday, July 3, 2018

A photo of the old Hooper home on Frazier Street near Wilson Road. Conroe councilman Guy Martin recalls many happy days spent playing with his cousins in the grassy area in front of the Hooper home. Martin is the grandson of former Montgomery County Sheriff Guy Hooper, brother to Dick Hooper. less

A photo of the old Hooper home on Frazier Street near Wilson Road. Conroe councilman Guy Martin recalls many happy days spent playing with his cousins in the grassy area in front of the Hooper home. Martin is ... more

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A photo of the old Hooper home on Frazier Street near Wilson Road. Conroe councilman Guy Martin recalls many happy days spent playing with his cousins in the grassy area in front of the Hooper home. Martin is the grandson of former Montgomery County Sheriff Guy Hooper, brother to Dick Hooper. less

A photo of the old Hooper home on Frazier Street near Wilson Road. Conroe councilman Guy Martin recalls many happy days spent playing with his cousins in the grassy area in front of the Hooper home. Martin is ... more

Photo: Internal

Oilman Dick Hooper a one-armed baseball star

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Despite losing an arm in a hunting accident in his early teens, Conroe’s William Newton “Dick” Hooper was quite the baseball star in the early 1900s.

“He was quite the ‘haus’ considering (his injury),” said his ancestor David N. Hooper, of Willis. “He’d be on the level of one of the Astros today.”

Hooper however, also excelled in a variety of arenas throughout his life, including the oil business and a variety of philanthropic efforts.

Dick Hooper was one of three children born to Dr. W.N. Hooper and Fannie Newton Hooper.

Dr. Hooper studied medicine in Tennessee.

Dick Hooper their oldest child was born in Cass County in Texas on Nov. 17, 1891.

In 1894, the family moved to Conroe.

According to David Hooper, there was some sort of fever outbreak at the time where the town needed a doctor and Dr. Hooper is regarded as the town’s first doctor.

The couple went on to have two more children Guy Hedick Hooper who went on to become the Montgomery County Sheriff during Conroe’s rough and tumble oil boom days and Zoula Fay Hooper (Lady Hooper Schaefer) who went on to be a major philanthropist locally and to Baylor University.

Dr. and Mrs. Hooper established a home on Ave F.

When he was 13, Dick Hooper lost his left arm in a hunting accident.

But it did not deter his interest in baseball.

He attended Baylor University from 1909 through 1912 and gained recognition as a right fielder on the baseball team.

He later played in a team associated with the University of Texas.

According to David Hooper, Dick Hooper lived partly in Brenham and tried to establish a Buick dealership there, but it never caught on.

Before the Conroe oil boom, David Hooper said it seemed nobody had any money but they did have land somehow.

A lot of the people who owed medical bills worked out their debts to the doctor in land.

As the Conroe oilfield was developing, Dick Hooper, along with his brother, Guy, and sister, Lady, organized the Hooper Oil Company which later became the Dr. Hooper Oil & Royalty Company.

Throughout his successful career, he often paid tribute to his family.

David Hooper said Dick Hooper was just shy of his law degree.

“He was almost a lawyer but not quite,” David Hooper said. “He lacked one semester. But I guess by that time, he was wheeling and dealing so much he didn’t need it.”

In 1936, he married Lucille Mayfield and had one adopted son through Mayfield’s son, Kyle.

Dick Hooper had a home in River Oaks at Lazy Lane and Inwood.

He was also in business with Judge Roy Hoffeinz. Together they had an interest in a radio station. He was also involved in the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Acccording to David Hooper, Dick Hooper died at the Warwick Hotel in Houston at age 68 on Sept. 4, 1960.

To honor his memory, his sister donated land to Baylor University for the Dick Hooper and Lady Hooper Schaefer Fine Arts Center which is still a centerpiece of the campus today.